Diablo 3: Auction house to accept real cash

[Juddog]

Would love to see the look some people in this threads faces when an item they don't need drops that is worth $200 and they realise they are on a server where they can't sell items.

Or better yet, the look on people's faces when they're in a party and some uber rare item drops that is worth $200, and someone else in the party ganks it to sell, when in fact they wanted the item to actually use on their character.

 

[BoberFett]

Would love to see the look some people in this threads faces when an item they don't need drops that is worth $200 and they realise they are on a server where they can't sell items.

Why wouldn't the black market still exist for those servers?

 

[stlcardinals]

Or better yet, the look on people's faces when they're in a party and some uber rare item drops that is worth $200, and someone else in the party ganks it to sell, when in fact they wanted the item to actually use on their character.

Loot in Diablo 3 is character specific. If you are in a party, you only see your loot drop. Another party member has to drop something from their inventory in order for the other party members to see it.

 

[Juddog]

Also there is still the question of how they will distribute drops.

I think that they will be forced to do drops similar to WoW; have bind on pickup items that are the more common drops, and Bind on Equip items that are more rare that will be sellable and bind to your character upon first equip.

Also I can imagine already the arguments that will ensue in game when a good loot piece drops that is BoE and one person that can actually use it loses it to someone who pretends like they're going to use it but then sells it on the auction house (same type of behavior that I've seen people do in WoW).

 

[Juddog]

Loot in Diablo 3 is character specific. If you are in a party, you only see your loot drop. Another party member has to drop something from their inventory in order for the other party members to see it.

How will this work when several characters are attacking a boss? Does the person with the killshot get the loot?

 

[ibex333]

By providing a monetary incentive, Blizzard is simply ASKING for it. All of a sudden all of those guys like Anonymous and Lulzsec will have that much more reason to practice their 1337 skillz.

 

[ikachu]

How will this work when several characters are attacking a boss? Does the person with the killshot get the loot?

He drops loot for each character in the party.

 

[OCNewbie]

http://d2items.com/

That is what you want?

I'm not familiar with that site, and it's simple to avoid. What are the odds I won't be familiar with the $$$ D3 AH?

BTW, I doubt there will be any BoE (Bind on Equip) items. If that's the case, that takes profits away from Blizzard from repeats sales of those items in the $$$ AH.

 

[lord_emperor]

As long as it doesn't affect players like me who don't plan on buying virtual items with real money.

The effect won't be direct, instead an item which would normally cost a reasonable amount of in-game currency will instead cost an astronomical amount.

 

[mingsoup]

I am incredibly disheartened with Diablo 3's choice to go mega monetary and online only.

 

[Chiropteran]

I'm not familiar with that site, and it's simple to avoid. What are the odds I won't be familiar with the $$$ D3 AH?

BTW, I doubt there will be any BoE (Bind on Equip) items. If that's the case, that takes profits away from Blizzard from repeats sales of those items in the $$$ AH.

So because you can't see it you are happy? Bury your head in the sand much? Based on that, would you be perfectly happy if the cash AH was invisible unless you enabled it in a UI setting?

BTW, I wasn't familiar with the site either, but it came up immediatly as the first link for "diablo 2 buy items" Not exactly super-hidden.

 

[Chiropteran]

Well, there are some key differences here - in the real world, that skybox is a luxury and priced accordingly because it's literally a scarce resource. Virtual scarcity is completely arbitrary.

It's unfortunate that you chose that particular example. The skybox portion of a stadium is manufactured, just as the rest of the stadium, and the scarcity is completely artificial. If someone building a stadium wanted to make the entire stadium skybox style suites, they could do so. But without the artificial scarcity they wouldn't be able to charge as much for a suite, and it would probably be a huge net loss on their overall profit.

In much the same way, while the scarcity of a particular rare or "epic" drop in diablo 3 is completely arbitrary, the value is determined largely by the rarity. If blizzard messed with the drop chances they would be playing with fire, it would alienate almost the entire player base if some super rare drops started dropping like greens after a patch. That said, I fully expect "mudflation" to occur as new content is added over time and the game is expanded (probably through expansions), and this will lower the value of older items- but this will be a controlled and expected reduction in value.

 

[BoberFett]

I'm still shocked that you can't grasp the difference between an infrequently used private market and an officially sanctioned one built right into the game.

How long before hovering over loot in your inventory searches the market and gives you the minimum, maximum, and average selling price in USD?

 

[OCNewbie]

So because you can't see it you are happy? Bury your head in the sand much? Based on that, would you be perfectly happy if the cash AH was invisible unless you enabled it in a UI setting?

BTW, I wasn't familiar with the site either, but it came up immediatly as the first link for "diablo 2 buy items" Not exactly super-hidden.

It's not about not seeing it, it's about not needing to actively seek it out. You're comparing a service where you have to visit a non-dev affiliated website that sells items that are against the TOS of the game, that you can get your account banned for if you're caught using, to an in-game AH run by the devs? The fact that every single player will have easy access and intimate knowledge of a cash-based AH makes this a MUCH more game impacting situation than TOS-defying websites.

I feel like it's YOU that your head buried in the sand to how this will really impact the game. Like I said earlier though, I admit it's all speculation, on both sides of the coin, until the game is actually released, and the final word is released on all the details of how the $$ AH will work.

 

[Chiropteran]

The fact that every single player will have easy access and intimate knowledge of a cash-based AH makes this a MUCH more game impacting situation than TOS-defying websites.
.

Impact? The "impact" it'll have on the game is that EVERYONE will have equal access to it, instead of some people who don't care about the risks getting things the others can't.

You really think the game is going to be harmed by everyone having equal access, but it's not harmed when some minority only has such an advantage?

For a multiplayer RPG, some level of balance is needed. Giving only a percentage of players access to something is a terrible way to keep and hold a player base. People like me quit diablo 1 and 2 because of that kind of stupid BS, and this sounds like a huge change for the better.

I'm still shocked that you can't grasp the difference between an infrequently used private market and an officially sanctioned one built right into the game.
?

Haha. I see the difference, and it's a huge change in favor of equal access. Diablo 1 and 2 were RUINED by 3rd party item and character selling. It really boggles my mind that anyone could defend there terrible situation diablo 1 and 2 was in because of "illegal" item sales. Really makes me wonder if the people against the blizzard cash AH are just upset that legit players will have access to the items they used to buy from such sites.

 

[BD2003]

In what way was it ruined by third party item selling that this won't ruin it even further?

 

[RPD]

So its like they legalized pot.

 

[tedrodai]

You say people should just learn to accept that it's not fair. That's it's just life. But that's exactly it - it's not real life. It's a game. It doesn't need to be bound by real world constraints. A great game can be fair to all - its the balanced games that typically rise to the top as the best games. That's why we love them, why they're such great diversions.

Their idea IS ingenious from a business perspective. But it's destructive from a game design perspective. It's only when the first party ties profit with mechanics that those two things don't align as they usually do.

Well, you speak as if game balance and fairness are the same thing, which they are not. But concerning this topic, the fairness that we are talking about IS real life. Take away the D3 AH and you still have ebay and various real currency trader websites. Some people still have more luxury money that they allocate to the game than others do or are willing to commit. So that doesn't change things 1 bit. So bam, no effect on the game's fairness unless there is no market for things w/o paying real currency (in which case we all will agree that they failed).

As far as the game being bound by real world constraints...well ideally your immersion doesn't have to be (i.e. you don't have to use real currency if you don't want to), but frankly, it depends on the implementation. They are providing a service afterall (servers so you can play with others, updates, etc etc), so they need to find ways to profit off your continued playing. Thus they are already thinking about how to keep you playing...you see where I'm going? They could definitely fudge it up, but they might also find a way to profit while still providing a fun service. We'll see.

I do completely agree that it's destructive from a game design perspective, but I think we're stuck with it for online RPGs unless some startup company breaks the mold and somehow also strikes gold. I suppose I'm jaded by MMORPGs, which I consider the diablo series is a younger cousin of. I can't look at an MMO game mechanic without thinking of the ways it was designed in order to keep you playing longer.

 

[OCNewbie]

I don't mind that a minority of people chose to buy items, pre-made characters, etc., on the internet. I do mind when it's forced down my throat and presented as an integral part of the game, which this AH is. I would mind it less if Blizzard just sold items that weren't tradable (bind on equip style) directly to players through their website. That way, money didn't come into play as far as player-to-player trades, but those that wanted to spend real money on items could, and Blizzard still makes a profit.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Jesus Christ, why the hell do people keep linking 'player to player' sales to something like Blizzard directly selling you max level characters?
...
Can we please stay on topic? And if I missed the announcement that Blizzard will now be selling gear directly themselves I apologize. Because as it currently stands, this is a lot of misdirected whiny bullshit from people who don't know what they are talking about.

Blizzard has, when asked directly, refused to state that they do not intend to sell items directly. They have stated that they are looking into selling characters, and change the subject when asked if they intend to sell equipment directly. The best answer anyone has gotten is that they don't know how that would work yet.
They have, however, stated that there will be a ‘Blizzard Store’ where you can spend Blizzard Dollars that you get in exchange for real money transactions if you don’t have your account connected to a paypal like service. They have been very carful about the wording concerning what the the ‘Blizzard Store’ is, leading some to conclude that they intend it to be a place where Blizzard outright sells exclusive gear for cash, while others have been lead to believe that you will be able to purchase physical Blizzard gear, like games and tee-shirts, at the store. I personally believe that it will sell fully made characters and exclusive in game equipment. I can only hope that they will keep the equipment to either visual styles of already existing items, or useless cool looking items. I simply can not see Blizzard giving people real goods for what they are going to consider as virtual currency. Companies want you to spend real money to buy virtual items, but I can’t imagine that they would consider allowing you to use virtual currency to buy real items.

People seem to have missed the part where Blizzard stated it will be a flat fee per auction, they are not taking a % of the price, so introducing new expensive items isn't that big a deal. The loot system is also randomly generated so I don't see them adding "new items" to the game through the AH only.

Blizzard has been very clear about the fact that it is both a flat fee and a percent system.
You get X number of listings a week on the AH, the example they used was 5. After those 5 listings you get charged a flat fee, once again the example was $1USD paid immediately to list any thing else. Then when the item sells they take a percentage, the example was 10%, of the sell price, then if you want that money turned into real world money instead of Blizzard Dollars, it will cost you another flat fee, the example was once again $1USD. The idea they stated was to keep the AH more focused on useful high level gear and not have it overly bloated with everything everyone finds. Personally, I think this is also to try to discourage the farmers.
It was noted that the example numbers was pulled out of the air, and the person talking had no idea what the real numbers might be.


Personally, I'm going to withhold judgment. I don't think anyone has any idea how this is going to pan out, but I'm a little excited to see it being attempted. It is a really cool experiment in virtual economics. It is in a way a whole new economic system being created. Nothing like this has really ever existed before. Oh, we can compare it to other economic markets, but really it is something completely new. The resources are infinite, but collection is bounded by time and distributed randomly. Then there is a group that is profit driven and capable of generating infinite resources with out the time or random distribution limitation, but they are bound by the fact that the participants of the economic system are voluntary and will leave if they feel the system is not fair. It is certain that Blizzard will attempt to use their economic power to maximize their profit, the question is can they do it in a manner that will be a benefit to the majority of players and raise profit and increase enjoyment, or will they abuse the power (intentionally or not) and make a quick buck while destroying the system they build?
I don’t know, but it should be fun to see it happen.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i understand setting up the auction house - trading in D2 was better than D1, but still a bit of a nuisance to find the item you wanted. not sure about monetizing it though.

also, they better include SP at the very least (offline mode like SC2). would still like to see LAN play too.

 

[Anubis]

stole this from a friend on another forum and I agree

It's a good idea, but they're handling it the wrong way. They should have only allowed players selling gold for dollars and buying gold with dollars, while all auction house transactions are still handled with gold. This keeps the market exchange rate stable since it can only fluctuate via a single "item" and ensures that you can always purchase any item up for action with either gold(by just paying with gold) or dollars(by buying gold from other players first) if you want to. This is similar to how EVE handles things(with PLEX being the only avenue for converting in game money to out of game money and vice versa).

Having potentially thousands of different items up for auction with varying prices for gold and dollars is just asking for the market to be exploited and controlled by bots, since every single item for sale defines a different gold<->dollars exchange rate depending on the price it's being sold at in both gold and dollars. I.e. an automated bot can see item A is being traded at $5 and 50,000 gold while item B is being traded at $8 and 100,000 gold. Bot buys item B for $8, sells it for 100,000 gold, buys 2 of item A for 100,000 gold, and sells them both for $10. A $2 profit is made just by capitalizing on the exchange rate gap between both items, which are impossible to avoid. Also, it's potentially possible that people could abandon the gold market entirely by only auctioning items at a dollar value. It would be awfully annoying if you only wanted to use gold and the item you wanted was posted for 10 cents instead.

 

[Beev]

stole this from a friend on another forum and I agree

I don't agree with the first paragraph, because of the second paragraph.

 

[Zenoth]

I don't agree with the first paragraph, because of the second paragraph.

And that's assuming that bots will indeed happen in Diablo III.

I'm not saying they won't, however. I'm just saying that we have yet to see how "more secure" and safe D3 will be in comparison to... well not just to D2 but in comparison to pretty much everything else remotely similar on the market, since Blizzard is doing something with an action hack and slash RPG that has had no precedent before as far as I know of. If bots are indeed made then Blizzard will have no choice but to wage war on that and their creators on a regular basis since now Blizzard themselves are taking the very risk of it happening.

 

[Via]

So a bunch of people really think they're going to make money playing this game?

It's going to be interesting to watch, to say the least.